All Change
by Hannah Abby
Summary: A little look at how Grug came to terms with accepting Guy and the realisation that his little girl was grown up and in love.


I loved this movie. I'm assuming you loved it too if you're here reading this (and welcome, if you are!) My favourite characters were definitely Eep and Guy, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for Grug trying to protect his daughter from the big scary boy! So this is a take on that, sort of.

Oh, and I apologise that it's not my best writing. It was written on and off over several days whenever I had to remind myself that I don't have enough money to go back to the cinema and see the movie again. It's also un-beta'd. None of my stuff has ever been beta read so let me know if you spot anything that should be changed!

As always, all characters and anything related to the movie don't belong to me, but to Dreamworks and associated companies.

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Hearing of the boy his daughter had supposedly spent the evening with had originally given Grug a small glimmer of hope he held on to briefly. Briefly, as it was then extinguished by the realisation that his daughter had spent the evening with a boy. Of all new people to have survived nearby and for his daughter to meet. Never mind that it appeared the meeting was short and uneventful - he prayed extremely uneventful, his little girl should not be with any unrelated males unsupervised. One who gave her strange, new, unknown and therefore dangerous objects even more so. With that thought he quite gleefully smashed the offending noise maker, happy with the knowledge that his daughter was now safe and would be completely so once back in the cave.

Grug didn't like change. Of course some changes were good; the birth of his children for one and the hopefully soon to be death of his mother-in-law another. The sudden loss of the family cave and their descent into this unfamiliar terrain was definitely an unwelcome change. However, while his family needed his protection he would focus solely on that. Once their safety was assured he'd gripe all he wanted but right now they were in new and therefore dangerous land. This meant all he could concentrate on was getting his precious girls, little boy and lovely wife safe and secure. If his dear mother-in-law survived the ride then he could gripe about that later too.

Actually meeting the boy his daughter had spoken of resulted in mixed feelings. Gratitude that he had saved her life and frustration at how close he'd let her get to the danger before making this "fy-er" stuff to save her. This mounted as he saw that they didn't separate very far from each other, there was no need to stand so close to her. And protect her from her father? Who did this boy think he was! By this point the gratitude he'd felt had all but fizzled out. This show off kid who stood far too near his daughter, who wouldn't make this "fy-er" stuff for him and whom his daughter stood up for, even telling her father - her own father! - off for breaking him. If they hadn't needed his skill at making this Sun-like light Guy would have been sent on his merry way very soon after their first meeting.

Traveling with Guy was a nightmare and not because of his attempts to escape. No, they were easy to deal with. His family's whining and complaining on the other hand, wasn't. However what Grug found to be the worst was his daughter constantly talking to the log bound brat and asking to carry him. He had never seen her act so strange and as much as he tried to deny it, Grug couldn't help but confirm that his daughter had fallen head over heels for the showy, annoying kid.

When the brat abandoned them at the sharp pointy rocks, Grug was furious. The kid knew they couldn't survive without him yet he just left them all knowing they would more than likely die. He would never forgive him if his family died. Hearing Thunk scream as he stepped on the rocks again snapped him out of it. He was fully in charge once more and it was his job to find a way to get everyone past these rocks. When he failed time and time again, kept hearing his family in pain, he couldn't stop a small glimmer of relief when Guy came back. Then he made him get rid of the log. The relief didn't last long.

Grug would never admit it out loud but he was annoyed at his family. How they were simply accepting Guy's ideas without question - except the odd "how does it work?" - yet just ignoring his usual, proper caveman ways of doing things. Everyone knew you don't go out in the rain, it's dangerous! You could get sick. Then the show off showed off a way to keep them dry even while traveling. You slowly climb down a steep cliff, not slide down quickly with only leaves as protection! Then they came to the water. Now he knew he was right. It was too deep to walk through and too much of it to jump over. Off course his eldest tried to go in anyway and could only complain when he stopped her. However when Guy suggested it was dangerous, apparently that was a completely different matter! Why did she believe the brat and not her own father? Sure, he said things were dangerous a lot but it was true. In this case even Guy agreed. Or Grug thought he did until he jumped into the water without drowning. He couldn't understand why his family were so excited about this new way of traveling but his confusion only grew to annoyance as he saw the brat holding his little girl. How exactly was he holding her up anyway, he really didn't want to think how. All that mattered was getting them separated. If only he could properly figure out this "swim" thing so he could catch up with everyone else. And outrun the persistent overgrown cat.

The longer they travelled with Guy the more confused Grug got. Take what happened before they fell into this forsaken rock maze. He didn't want his kids to be on their own, so when Guy gave them their own horns of course he was going to put his foot down and demand they stick together. Then his little girl got far too close to the brat for comfort and suddenly he was thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing splitting up if it meant those two wouldn't be together. How could he want both things at once? If they stuck together his little girl would be hanging all over that Guy and if they split up his kids are left to their own devices without their dad to protect them. This, of course, happened anyway. For the sake of remaining sane he just shook his head and forgot about it. It was done now, and if he heard a horn he could follow the sound and help his family. Guy on the other hand, if he knew it was him needing help he might just stick where he was.

It was unlikely that he had ever had his anger disappear so fast. One minute he had wanted nothing more than to rip Guy limb from limb for changing his family. They were cavemen, they lived in caves it was what they do. It meant they'd be safe. So he didn't understand why his family no longer wanted to. Then they got stuck in this "tar" and he couldn't hit the brat no matter how much strength he put into his punches. It hadn't been the tar itself that drained his anger though. No, it had been Guy's voice. He sounded so sad and scared. He looked just like a little kid. Then he explained why he knew what this sticky tar was. His family had told the kid to keep heading into the light and he had told Grug's own family the same thing. No wonder they didn't want to go into the cave. The light was warm and inviting and full of promise. The cave may have meant safety but it was nothing but cold, dark and cramped. He could almost picture the kids own father exactly where he was now, telling his son to survive and be happy. He wanted nothing more than to tell his own kids that right now. It wasn't hard to see that the kid blamed himself for not getting his family out but what did he expect? He'd been little when it'd happened, he said so himself. This "brain" of his had obviously come about by being in situations where he had to use it or die as he got older. What would he have been able to do back then? The kids dad would have rather died knowing his son was safe than thinking his son might die trying to save them. It's what dads are like. They'd die for their kids. It's what dads do. The kid perked up a bit when he told him and that's when Grug decided. They weren't dying here. Not like this. He may not have been this kid's dad, but he was a dad and used to protecting kids. They were getting out of there. Even if it meant swallowing his pride and asking Guy what ideas his brain could come up with. When they did get out he had never been more relieved to see his family in his life. Then when Guy asked him what they were doing next, with that respect shining in his eyes, Grug felt that the last few minutes had been some of the best ones in his life.

A few days ago Grug would never have even dreamt that he would stop his family going to a cave when the world was crumbling around them. However this time there was a chance the cave might not be safe and couldn't guarantee their survival. Ahead of them there was another chance at survival that could be safer than the cave, but only if it was actually there. He thought he saw some land, but it was so cloudy he couldn't be certain. Guy was the brave volunteer to test it out. Of all people to brave the unknown and possibly unsafe destination it was the kid who had only ever done what he knew would help him survive and never put his life in the hands of others. He was willing to potentially give his life for his new-found family. The kid had grown up. As he turned to pick Guy up to throw him across, he got a look at Eep's expression and almost wished he hadn't. That look of pride mixed with sadness. He could tell she knew that Guy may just fall through the air and die, not landing safely on any solid ground but she clearly knew that staying here would more than likely mean death too. She tried to put on a brave smile for Guy anyway. Maybe his little girl wasn't quite as little as he would have liked her to stay. He turned away from her holding Guy, ready to throw him. He couldn't help but joke with him. It was the closest he could bring himself to saying 'I'm sorry how I've treated you and thank you for everything.'

He couldn't look at Eep for those seconds after he threw Guy into the unknown. How could he look at his daughter if he was the one who had killed the man she loved? Even if it was in an attempt to save them all. Time passed slowly and as he got to a point where he thought he should face Eep and apologise, they heard the horn. He could feel everyone move closer to the edge as if to see where the noise came from and for a small second the clouds cleared enough that they could. Guy was on solid ground, safe and well. Now that he knew it was possible it was time to save the rest of his family.

If he'd had more time to say goodbye he didn't think it could have been any sweeter than how it went as he threw them all to safety. His little boy was getting smarter. At the start of the journey he would never have figured out that his father wouldn't be joining them. There was no one to throw himself over after all.

His beautiful wife just rested her head against his. Just as they'd done when they decided to spend their lives with each other, as they'd done when they realised she was having a child, all three times and as they had done after each child had been born safe and healthy. The little way they told each other 'I love you and want to make sure you know that'.

He couldn't help but feel relieved that gran didn't want any sentimental rubbish, he was trying for everyone else but he really wasn't good at it, just saying whatever came to mind first. However he couldn't help a small rush of pride when she told him he had surprised her. It took years but finally she might have considered him a worthy mate for her daughter.

Then it was Eep's turn. The one who had started this whole mess but saved their lives by doing so. He knew exactly what he wanted to tell her. Had known since his little talk in the tar with Guy. He gathered her in his arms, not too different to how he used to hold her as a little baby then made up some silly name with a silly reason just to distract them both from how this was very unlike him. He couldn't help himself though. While she was all grown up he couldn't help but see her as the little girl who had needed to hold his hand to start walking, who had developed a bad habit of chewing on his finger (or crispy bear) when teething, who had begged and begged to be taught how to hunt and couldn't help but showing off all her "kills" (which were usually just eggs she had stolen from nearby nests when the adult birds were distracted. Now she would be starting her own life, maybe even have her own kids. Now that was terrifying. She would be fine though, if she was with Guy. Guy would protect her when her dad wasn't there to. Finally, as though all his thoughts on his little girl growing up had loosened his tongue enough to say it more easily, for the first time ever he told his daughter 'I love you' and could only wish he'd had more time to hear what she was going to say before he had to throw her over the huge gap to save her life.

It all felt a bit of a blur from meeting the giant cat creature in the cave to landing on the other side of the split mountain with his family. The only thing he could remember with any clarity was his daughter trying out the new hug on him and telling him that she loved him too. The only time he could remember being happier than that was holding her as a baby for the first time. After the excitement of them all surviving and meeting the new family pets, it had been very quickly decided that they all needed rest. They managed to find a reasonable sheltered area, which was not a cave, just a large overhang of bent trees so they felt reasonably safe until they got their strength back. They all lay down just falling asleep wherever they collapsed in the small space but before Guy could just fall asleep near the entrance Grug placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and nodded toward Eep. 'Check she's doing okay.'

Guy looked back at him with large eyes before adopting a serious expression and nodding. Grug couldn't help but feel Guy had realised that he handed over something that to Grug was more precious than his own life. Eep may not have been a little girl anymore but he would always be her dad and would always be protective of her. Now she was choosing to live life her way and she had chosen to live it with Guy. He snapped out of his thoughts when Guy nodded again. He still looked serious when he replied 'I'll do that' but gave a small smile afterwards before moving towards Eep near the back and holding her hand as he lay next to her and drifted off not seeming to notice her moving closer in her sleep.

Yes, Guy got it. He would protect his daughter when Grug couldn't. He really was a good guy. He would double check in the morning that the kid was aware that if he ever heard a complaint about Guy from his daughter he was still entitled to break every bone in his body. However as he drifted off to sleep himself he couldn't help but think it would be unlikely to happen. Well, not any more than Ugga complained about him. He chuckled slightly right before he fell fast asleep dreaming of a sky filled with tomorrow.

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There we have it. I hope you enjoyed, when I read it back even I felt it was a bit heavy going but I needed to get it out my head. Then I saw there was only 1 other Croods story on here, it needed company. Please review if you wish!


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